Snap Out Of It, Met Fans!!

Okay, you guys, pay attention now. Somebody wrote the following letter to the Mets (either directly or through a media or Internet outlet) and I'm reprinting it here. There are no pictures on this post to distract you. Just read.
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Dear New York Mets,
Thank you once again for making me feel so awful about my favorite baseball team. After the collapse of the 2007 NY Mets, I gave up my season tickets. I instead choose to go to two games this year. Opening Day and Closing Day. I am so glad I didn't spend thousands of dollars this year on concessions. I am so glad I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on parking. I am so glad that I saved my time and energy by not wasting my time watching endless amount of games this year sitting in front of my HD TV set. I actually have been privately boycotting advertisers of SNY, because they support the Mets. And after this year, I can tell you this. I will not even go to a game next year. I won't spend one red penny on a piece of Mets gear. I will not teach my daughter to be a Mets fan so she can be disappointed year after year by the third rate organization.
The Yankees did it right. Celebrate before the game, not after. There was nothing to celebrate. There was no rain at 1pm but the game started at 2pm. But there I was wasting seven hours of my time supporting this crap.
So take a piece of advice from a person who has watched more NY mets games than all the current NY players and coaches combined. Don't bring Manuel back. Don't bring back a single person from that bullpen back. Trade one of the big three (Reyes, Wright or Beltran), because there is no excuse for losing 2 of 3 to the Marlins. No excuse for being swept by the Padres early in the season. There is no excuse why you, the NY Met baseball player deserve your multi million dollar paychecks, while the people who pay for your lifestyles are suffering another long off season. I can imagine you fools, smiling and laughing today thinking man we just let another one slip away. While, the everyday JOE is thinking, how am I going to get my money back for the playoff tickets that aren't coming. Think about that Reyes. Think about that Wright. Think about that Beltran. Think about that Heilman. Think about that Schneider.
I shall now enjoy truly good baseball, played by teams that are committed to winning. The Brewers and Cubs who made substanial trades to bolster their starting rotation. The Dodgers who got Manny Ramirez. The Phillies bolstered their bullpen. Wow...you mean all the other teams who made the NL playoffs added to their clubs as the season went along and the Mets got...Ayala. Wonderful. Great...sign our GM to a four year extention for finishing out of the playoffs again. Whatever, NOT another $ or piece of energy be wasted on the NY Mets ever again. I shall hit Post and not give thought to the team ever again.
Good Bye!!!
Fan since 1975
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Huh??? What's wrong with this person? It sounds like a suicide note! Is it really that bad? He makes it sound like the Mets lost 117 games. I wonder how much money his bookie fleeced him out of. What in the world is going on with Met fans?
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Was this "Fan since 1975" even conscious when the Mets were seven games out in June and circling the drain? Would he feel differently if the Mets stayed the course, not fired Willie Randolph and finished 75-87? Would he rather the Mets be in the Detroit Tigers' position: predicted by many to win it all only to finish in last place? Or how about being where the Mariners or Nationals are?
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This "Fan since 1975" couldn't be aware of the dire times in the '70s when the Mets traded Tom Seaver and just about all the key members of the 1969 and '73 champion teams for nothing and wound up finishing last six out of seven years while their attendance dropped from 2.7 million in 1970 to less than 780,000 in 1979 which led the old Payson regime to finally sell the franchise to Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday for $21 million.
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Was "Fan since 1975" paying any attention to the decline of the Mets from the 1986 108-win world champions to the 1993 103-loss abomination? How about when the Mets went from the 2000 World Series to last place in three years? Was he sending letters like this to the Mets after those disappointments?
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"Fan since 1975" has been "privately boycotting advertisers of SNY, because they support the Mets." Oh, brother. Is it remotely possible that this "fan" can find something a LITTLE more important to boycott, like, oh, I dunno - oil companies, for example? Politicians? Or corporations that have business ties with Arab countries that openly support terrorism? This person's priorities are about as balanced as Dennis Rodman's psyche.
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Trade Wright? Trade Reyes? Fire Manuel? What are you, the illegitimate son of George Steinbrenner? You're ripping Omar Minaya. Hello?! Remember Jim Duquette, the man who traded Scott Kazmir for Victor "The Wrong" Zambrano?! Have you ever heard of M. Donald Grant? Joe McDonald? Bob Scheffing? Lorinda de Roulet?
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IS ANYBODY HOME?!!
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This is ridiculous! Yes, last season was a disaster and this season's finale was a disappointment and some changes do need to be made. But stop acting idiotic just long enough to see a little daylight: The fact that the Mets were even in the race, let alone to the very last day after a lousy first half, was an amazing accomplishment and due credit must be given to Jerry Manuel, as well as Omar Minaya for choosing him to replace Randolph because Randolph would never have turned it around had he stayed on.
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If "Fan since 1975" wanted to make a legitimate point he should have directed his letter 10 miles west to Madison Square Garden and Jimmy Dolan, who has just decided he's not going to rid the Knicks of Stephon Marbury, thereby pissing off Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni before they've even started rebuilding after Hurricane Isiah. If the Knicks were in a position the Mets were in and blew it in the final days of the season, fans would be in relative heaven considering what's gone down at 8th and 33rd the last ten years.
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"Fan since 1975" claims, "After the collapse of the 2007 NY Mets, I gave up my season tickets." You want me to believe that, don't you? You want me to look at you and say, "You're really giving up a chance to get a prime location at Citi Field? I'm sure" Then he raps up by sobbing that he'll "not give thought to the team ever again. Good Bye!!!" Oh, please. He knows damn well he'll be back, and if they do win it all he'll be the first one to run around chirping, "I always had faith in my Mets!"
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I really have to wonder if Met fans have become as spoiled rotten as Yankee and Brave fans are? Boy, that would be pathetic because the Mets haven't won nearly as often as those teams have over the years, and that's why the relatively few winning seasons the Mets have had should be appreciated a little more, even with the sour endings. If the Mets had the kind of season the Tigers did (and it was looking very likely under Randolph), THEN everyone would have a right to demand wholesale changes. But unlike the equally talented Tigers, the Mets battled back and made it a lot more exciting than anyone could have expected. And in spite of the way it ended, their second-half rally made it an upgrade over last season no matter what anyone wants to believe. I'm not saying Met fans should be content with the results, but come on. Giving up season tickets and not going back and ranting and raving like Hanky the Yankee Killer is not showing that you know what you're talking about. It shows that you're a 200-proof fool.
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As an ex-New Yorker I've always been proud of the reputation we New York fans have had for being the most knowledgeable fans in sports. But that reputation is dying a fast death and to me, that is far more disappointing (not to mention embarrassing) than anything any New York sports franchise has ever done. The overreaction of Met fans in this case and sports fans overall (as the media genuinely affects them) disgusts me.
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See folks, I live in Houston and Hurricane Ike tore through here a couple of weeks ago and many people lost everything. I'm very thankful that the only problem I had was going without electricity for nine days. Even now many people still don't have lights. Nobody I know could even imagine going without power for more than two days, not knowing when or if it will ever come back on. Trust me when I tell you that it would depress you enough to put things into at least a little better perspective.

It's a shame that that's what it would take.